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There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills (or Somewhere)

A brand with ties to the California gold rush is sponsoring a treasure hunt of its own.

A treasure hunt sponsored by Levi’s jeans is centered on a make-believe relative of Levi Strauss.

As part of a campaign called “Go Forth,” which began in July, Levi’s jeans is introducing on Monday a game with a prize of $100,000 — billed as “buried somewhere in America” — to the winner. There is a charitable component to the game, too.

The game is part real-world, part online and has elements of a scavenger hunt, a puzzle and a tall tale. Details of the game can be found on a section of the Levi’s brand Web site.

The game is the most recent in a spate of competitions sponsored by marketers that use the Internet to forge longer-lasting connections with consumers. It is also among several contests and sweepstakes with large cash prizes that have been brought out since the recession started, as a way to get the attention of economically challenged consumers.

The Levi’s game is named after an imaginary 19th-century figure, Grayson Ozias IV, or G. O. the Fourth – as in “Go Forth” … get it? The “Go Forth” campaign is being created by Wieden & Kennedy in Portland, Ore.

Ozias is described as a friend of a nephew of Levi Strauss, the (real) founder of the Levi’s parent, Levi Strauss & Company; the gold rush drew Strauss to California, where he opened a dry goods business and later sold denim pants.

There will be four phases to the game, which is to conclude in mid-November when a final challenge will be revealed to the 100 finalists who make it through the first three phases. The first of the 100 who figures out the last piece of the puzzle gets to dig up a steel box with the $100,000 inside.

The game will also have a presence on social media Web sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

“We think it will spur some consumer excitement and engagement,” said Doug Sweeny, vice president for Levi’s brand marketing at Levi Strauss & Company in San Francisco.

As organized as the game is, there could be some difficulties along the way. For example, in 2001 ABC was to have broadcast a reality series, “The Runner,” with viewers following someone playing a fugitive racing across the country.

But the series was canceled in October 2001 before it went on the air because it was deemed inappropriate in the wake of 9/11.

And in the Broadway musical and movie “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” a make-believe company, World Wide Wicket, is thrown into chaos when its TV game-show treasure hunt is disrupted by the show’s “treasure girl” blurting out where the loot was hidden: in 10 of the company’s buildings around the country, which were promptly ransacked by treasure hunters.

“We do have it planned out,” Mr. Sweeny said of the Levi’s game, and contingencies are being taken into consideration.

The $100,000 is not being hidden in the Levi Strauss retail stores, he added, laughing — nor in its headquarters.

As for the charitable element of the game, the participants will be given a chance to nominate and vote for a nonprofit organization, based in the United States, that will receive a $100,000 gift from the Levi’s brand.